Creative Arts and Industries

Project

Supported in part by a number of UoA Summer Scholarships, the New Zealand Institute of Architects has published a series of maps of New Zealand architecture. Refer: https://www.andrewbarrielab.com/block

Role

This scholarship project involves the research and production for a map of Invercargill and the wider Southland region. The project will begin with library-based research to gather information, moving on to the layout and graphic of the map itself, before carrying out fieldwork to verify the correctness and currency of the map produced.

Required skills

Solid research and graphic design skills are a necessity, and the ability to write well about architectural history is an advantage. The project will supervised throughout the summer with weekly meetings.

Dates

The map will be published (printing sponsored by Dulux) in early-2025 by Architecture New Zealand (the nation’s most significant architecture journal), so the work project will run mid-November to mid-February.

Project

Supported in part by a number of UoA Summer Scholarships, the New Zealand Institute of Architects has published a series of maps of New Zealand architecture. Refer: https://www.andrewbarrielab.com/block

Role

This scholarship project involves the research and production for a map of Levin, Otaki, Paraparaumu, and the Kapiti Coast region. The project will begin with library-based research to gather information, moving on to the layout and graphic of the map itself, before carrying out fieldwork to verify the correctness and currency of the map produced.

Required skills

Solid research and graphic design skills are a necessity, and the ability to write well about architectural history is an advantage. The project will supervised throughout the summer with weekly meetings.

Dates

The map will be published (printing sponsored by Dulux) in mid-2025 by Architecture New Zealand (the nation’s most significant architecture journal), so the work project will run mid-November to mid-February.

Project

Two students

The student scholar will assist in research toward developing a film script, which is in its early research stage. This is being developed in collaboration with Māori filmmakers, and current research has considered historical records and contemporary accounts of the relationships which developed at the time.

Role

Over the summer period student researchers would be asked to review the material assembled and then broaden the range of sources.

The project team also offers to engage and advise on students’ own scripts if they have ideas in development. Our project, Rangihoua, aims to produce a revised film treatment and script sample by the end of the summer. We can invite two student researchers to the team and propose to meet them weekly, either in person or online.

Tasks for the summer scholar will include working with the project’s writers and translators to refine story ideas and identify new sources through desktop research and conversation.

Ideal students

Candidates with experience in secondary and primary research and writing (especially for screen) are preferred. Proficiency in te reo would be welcomed.

Project

This research aims to examine diverse dance education practices and theory in formal and informal contexts. A specific focus will be in relation to how dance pedagogies attend to UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals, and the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education.

Project

This project aims to explore the intersections of the choreographic creation, pedagogy, performance and collaboration in a range of contexts, for example tertiary education, the professional dance industry, high school dance education, community settings or international locations.

The project may take the form of creative practice or qualitative methodology (interviews etc).

Project

Two students

This project examines how somatic practices and/or therapeutic dance approaches facilitate wellness in creative practice, community settings, digital technologies, and/or clinical settings.

Role and requirements

Applicants should be coming from a dance-related undergraduate degree, and will be required to conduct research including the appropriate research design, data collection, analysis/interpretation, and production of a final product (whether it be practice-based or fully written). 

Project

Three students

This choreographic performance and production project centres on an innovative, creative, and community-minded live performance context, and seeks to develop future-ready creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial skills through practice-led choreographic research.

By fostering and expanding choreographic research practices relevant to postgraduate study, the creative output of this summer scholarship project will be a collaborative choreographic performance work. To conduct the project, up to 3 students can be co-supervised by Sarah Foster-Sproull and Sarah Knox.

Project

This project explores artistic practices, interdisciplinary creative practice, documentation, and studio methods.

Role and Requirements

Applicants should be coming from a creative related undergraduate degree, and will be required to explore artistic knowing and forms of writing that emerge through creative compositional methods, in relation to current literature framing artistic research and experimental documentation.

Project

Two students

Join our dynamic research team as a summer research scholar. We are exploring community risk perception about natural hazards and climate change.

Our project, based in the Henderson-Massey Local Board Area, focuses on vulnerabilities to climate-related risks such as flooding and landslides. The region's diverse demographics and recent experiences with floods and cyclones offer a unique opportunity to gain comprehensive insights. The research contributes to transdisciplinarity as the supervisory team consists of Dr. Iresh Jayawardena (School of Architecture and Planning), Dr. Sandeeka Mannakkara (Faculty of Engineering) and Associate Professor Sarah Cowie (Psychology).

Aim

Our aim is to understand how communities recognise and interpret natural hazard and climate change risks and how this influences their risk management and mitigation actions.

Role

Prospective summer scholarship students will play a crucial role in analysing quantitative survey data and contributing to the reporting of our findings.

This project presents an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development of the “CRITIC Framework” (Communities' Risk Tolerability Interpretative Framework for Natural Hazard and Climate Change Risk). This framework will shape future community resilience strategies.

Ideal students

Proficiency in quantitative data analysis, familiarity with statistical software (SPSS, R, or Python), and curiosity in tackling climate change complexities are beneficial.

Interested students requiring application preparation support can contact Dr. Iresh Jayawardena via email. We seek two enthusiastic students to join our team and make a significant impact on how communities understand and respond to climate change risks!

Project

This project engages with Māori and Pacific arts communities at a local, national and international level. It aims to examine the historical meanings, functions, and values of indigenous dance practices in Aotearoa and the wider Pacific.

Role

The project will involve place-based, practice-led research methods that will include the distinct gathering, interpreting, and presenting of understandings of dance, as well as the organization of archival materials, and relevant literature for analysis. The research design will also serve to promote and generate interest in performance more broadly through wānanga, symposium, and research outputs.

Project

Two students

Poor urban planning and development is recognised as a major root cause of unhealthy urban development ; but, when done well, urban planning plays an important role in supporting human health outcomes. Health outcomes for Māori are particularly concerning with Urban Māori disproportionately experiencing poorer health outcomes than non-Māori.

Aims

This project aims to investigate how well urban environmental determinants of human health are reflected in urban and transport policies in New Zealand, and potential health inequality issues for Māori.

Role

Two students will undertake literature review on urban environmental determinants of human health and participate in analysing and/or reporting on urban and transport policy systems.

This transdisciplinary study promotes the University and CAI strategic priorities by:
• advancing knowledge on healthier urban environments that will have a positive impact on health, resilience and wellbeing of our society
• promoting health outcome equality for Māori communities
• engaging students with real-world scenarios and policy systems of integrating urban planning, public health, and transport

Project

This project explores the use of serious games to teach complexity and systems thinking about natural ecosystems in higher education. Students will develop, prototype, and test two educational board games integrating New Zealand ecosystems science, theory, and Mātauranga Māori through Te Reo Māori and place-based narratives. Part of the Design 4 Conservation initiative, it offers an open-access toolkit for participatory environmental sustainability and conservation (www.design4conservation.com).

Aims

The main outcomes are two game prototypes that serve as educational tools promoting sustainability education, cultural inclusivity, and active engagement with environmental conservation. This aligns with the University of Auckland's goals of advancing sustainable ecosystems, fostering cultured and engaged communities, and using the TeachWell framework’s signature pedagogical practices: relational place-based learning, collaborative practice, and values-based approaches.

Students will acquire and enhance the following skills:
- Secondary Research: Conduct comprehensive literature reviews to integrate scientific and theoretical knowledge into game design.
- Game Design: Develop engaging and educational game mechanics and narratives.
- Graphic Design: Create visually appealing and functional game components.
- Environmental Sustainability: Gain a deeper understanding of sustainability concepts and their application.
- Prototyping: Develop and test physical game prototypes, incorporating feedback to refine the designs.

Requirements
The ideal candidate should have previous experience in graphic design and a passion for nature and board games. A willingness to engage with Māori knowledge and Te Reo Māori is essential. The ability to work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary environment will be highly valued.

Project

Multiple students

Design for Conservation (D4C) is a web-based, open-access methodological toolkit that conservation groups can use to maximise innovation outcomes and ensure meaningful engagement (www.design4conservation.com).

Role

Students will work alongside project director Dr. Gabriela Baron in the identification, curation and analysis of successful case studies from the “Design4Conservation” project. These case studies will be included in a book to be published by Springer Nature.

Successful candidates will engage with platform users from all over the globe, by creating and distributing a survey to identify real-world applications of the Design4Conservation methodology. Their case studies will consist of participatory projects for environmental sustainability.

Students will also examine coursework of DES233 “Design and the natural environment”. They will collate and analyse results, building a curated list of exemplary case studies (images, descriptions and authors) to be included in the book.

Skills learned

– Secondary research

– Primary research

– Book editing

– Ethics and copyright

Requirement

The applicant needs to have previous experience in survey building, and graphic design software.

Project

Two students

AI is already transforming image making, written communication and technical drawings. New AI tools emerge very rapidly and large Venture Capital funding is dedicated to startups focused on AI. It appears that AI tools for architecture will be used by practices in the documentation, quality assurance processes, NZS and building code verifications.

AI can also play a crucial role in technology enhanced learning. However, most of these tools are not applied at the School of Architecture or in NZ architecture offices. And there is no accurate available data on which of these startups or existing tools cater for architectural professions, or could cater for the construction industry as a whole.

Role

The goal of this scholarship project is to carry out a survey of the currently available AI tools that are dedicated to the architecture profession. It is essential to understand how AI tools can positively aid architecture profession and tertiary education as well as their disruptive consequences. This research will be carried out by using AI tools and will involve a classification of opportunities for AI in architecture, including teaching of the discipline.

Objectives
1. Survey of the currently available AI tools for architectural design and architecture technology.
2. Evaluation of benefits, disruptions and implementation possibilities for education and professional practice.
3. Application and implementation of those tools in academic and practice. Combination of AI tools to use them as research and practice tools.

List of possible AI tools: Perplexity pro; Design TOgether (D.TO); Conix AI; SWAPP; Phyton Coded; ChatGPT

Ideal Students

Prospective candidates for this project should demonstrate passion for academic research, interest in architecture technology and experience with AI tools.

Contact us

We are currently seeking two students for this project. Ferdinand Oswald and Alessandro Premier are available to provide support and meet with students prior to their submissions. To schedule a meeting, please send an email to Ferdinand or Alessandro. This project will be incubated within the Future Cities Research Hub, drawing from the collaborative expertise and support of its diverse members. 

Project

This transdisciplinary art-science project arises from a period of sustained relationship building with Te Kāhui o Taranaki Taiao, who are engaged in ongoing environmental monitoring of their rohe.

Role

In a collaborative approach, we will use methods tied to acoustics and ecology to extend an aspect of this mahi for presentation at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery and later Waikereru Ecosanctuary.

Aim

The work aims to contribute to sustainable ecosystem transition by creating awareness and sensitivity to natural systems within the context of contemporary art.

Ideal student

The project seeks a research assistant who can work with sound editing applications to the specifications of Te Whare Taiao, the project's supervisor and collaborators. The work will not be particularly technical, but the capacity to extend/acquire skills at the level of secure file management and effective use of existing sound editing applications is important – as well as an appreciation of the value and significance of ecological practices as contributors to the health and well-being of people and Te Taiao.

Project

Two students

Many neighbourhoods in New Zealand towns and cities are developed for individual mobility and excessive automobile travel. The car-oriented urban form hinders the change to climate-responsible mobility and possibilities to achieve decarbonisation of urban life.

Around the world, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) which aspires to high-density and mixed-use development around mass-transit stations, has been promoted as a planning response to the urban problems. However, many TOD projects are not delivering sustainable mobility and community revitalisation and can only be categorised as ‘transit-adjacent development’.

Role

This project aims to investigate the influence of urban morphological characteristics on the use of rail transit and residents’ mobility patterns and preferences in the walkable catchment areas around Auckland’s railway stations.

It will evaluate key morphological variables influencing transit travel demand and the magnitude of their relationships, utilising multiple regression to examine the joint impact of these variables. Measuring and evaluating the performance of railway station areas based on multi-source data can benefit planning by guiding investments and improving TOD quality.

To conduct the project, the supervisor will select up to 2 students who will contribute to morphological fieldwork and community survey.

Requirements

Successful applicants are expected to have solid planning research and cartographic analysis skills.

Project

Two students

Many neighbourhoods in New Zealand towns and cities are developed for individual mobility and excessive automobile travel. The car-oriented urban form hinders the change to climate-responsible mobility and possibilities to achieve decarbonisation of urban life.

Around the world, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) which aspires to high-density and mixed-use development around mass-transit stations, has been promoted as a planning response to the urban problems. However, many TOD projects are not delivering sustainable mobility and community revitalisation and can only be categorised as ‘transit-adjacent development’.

Role

This project aims to investigate the influence of urban morphological characteristics on the use of rail transit and residents’ mobility patterns and preferences in the walkable catchment areas around Auckland’s railway stations.

It will evaluate key morphological variables influencing transit travel demand and the magnitude of their relationships, utilising multiple regression to examine the joint impact of these variables. Measuring and evaluating the performance of railway station areas based on multi-source data can benefit planning by guiding investments and improving TOD quality.

To conduct the project, the supervisor will select up to 2 students who will contribute to morphological fieldwork and community survey.

Requirements

Successful applicants are expected to have solid planning research and cartographic analysis skills.